Giant Bicycle Gives Brewery Tours Around Downtown Missoula

A new attraction that combines Missoula's love of micro breweries and biking, is creating a buzz around town. Thirst Gear's new bike-like contraption is creating a new kind of party in town, taking customers on a "music filled tour of the sud sippin' streets of downtown Missoula."

"We've been doing this about two months now, and it's been great, people love it," said Greg Liberko, a co-founder of the Thirst Gear.

Liberko and a group of his friends got the idea for the bike during a bachelor party in Portland, Oregon.

"We were like Missoula needs one of these, this is the coolest thing I've ever done," Liberko said.

The owners then called a company in Bend, Oregon who custom made the bike for Missoula. The company shipped the bike to town last fall, and in the spring the owners started Thirst Gear.

"The more the bike is out, the more tours are booked," Liberko said.

The bike only has a battery for the lights and horn, and the rest is man powered.

"There's drivers on the right and drivers on the left, and they as they pedal and control two drive shafts, and that moves the bike," Liberko said.

The "brew-cycle" has 15 seats, and a designated driver to tour customers around town.

"A lot of people are interested. They don't quit know what it is, so they ask questions," said Thirst Gear driver, Michael Fisher.

Fisher said the bike creates a buzz when it travels around town.

"It's not uncommon that people pull out their cameras and start taking pictures, because it's so unique," Fisher said.

The bike will run all summer, and possibly into the fall. Liberko said the company may even look to expand business.

I can see us getting three bikes in Missoula they've reacted so well, and maybe even Bozeman

The three hour tour runs three times a day, seven days a week, and takes customers to three bars of their choice. If you're interested in hitching a ride on the bike, head to Thirst Gear.

Students with their whole lives ahead of them and the teachers who tried to protect them were among the 17 people killed when a gunman opened fire with an AR-15 at a large high school in south Florida.

Students with their whole lives ahead of them and the teachers who tried to protect them were among the 17 people killed when a gunman opened fire with an AR-15 at a large high school in south Florida.